情定北海岸

　　本多猪四郎監督　　１９６３年／９４分／カラー／３５ミリ／東宝　　出演：高島忠夫、小林哲子、田崎潤　　世界征服を狙うムウ帝国の野望を阻むべく、旧日本海軍が極秘に建造を進めていた海底軍艦が水中・空中・地中を進む。海底軍艦はムウ帝国の守護神マンダをうち破り遂に心臓部に到達する！壊滅したムウ帝国の女王の行動も感動的で何度見ても見飽きない不滅のＳＦ映画。

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

　　皇太子争选太子妃，兰心本有所爱，却不得不进到太子府，因为才华出众，深得皇太子和纪淑妃的喜爱，兰心被嫉妒和排挤，在太子府里受尽磨难！　　其实一切阴谋都是秀女姚芊芊设计的，姚芊芊是万贵妃的人，自己参选秀女就是为了接近太子，协助万贵妃铲除太子，虽然她心中也另有所爱，但不得不去争选太子妃，铲除一切阻碍自己当上太子妃的秀女。　　姚芊芊陷害兰心通奸，差点害的兰心被赐死，关键时刻兰心被梅儿所救。几日后公布太子妃人选之时，纪淑妃为了顾全大局，还是让姚芊芊当上了太子妃，姚芊芊十分痛苦内心挣扎，兰心、梅儿、金碧瑶当上侧妃，大家各怀念想……。

 Exploring the friendship between renowned preacher George Whitefield and Benjamin Franklin, and Whitefield's impact during the pivotal Great Awakening religious movement.